Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports Stephon Castle and Chris Paul also got plenty of love from the GM’s. The preseason has begun, and the regular season is just two weeks away. That means it’s time for the 2024-25 NBA GM Survey, where the NBA’s 30 general managers responded to 50 different questions about the best teams, players, coaches and offseason moves. They were not permitted to vote for their own team or personnel. The Spurs got plenty of love, especially second-year phenom Victor Wembanyama, who probably got more votes than any Spur has in quite a while. His most dominant win came from the question, “If you were starting a franchise today and could sign any player in the NBA, who would it be”, as he grabbed a whopping 77% of the vote, or 23 votes (assuming all 30 GMs answered), with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic coming in a distant second with 10% each. That’s pretty high praise for a player entering just his second season, but it shows how highly he is already thought of. Wemby also dominated in the defense category, winning best defensive player and best interior defender with 40% of the vote apiece, as well as coming in second with 13% of the vote for most versatile defender. (Giannis Antetokounmpo won with just one more vote, so this was a widespread category.) Other appearances included a three-way tie for second place as the player most likely to have a breakout season, a distant third for best center with a singular vote behind Jokic (87%) and Joel Embiid (10%), plus the exact same results for best international player, except with Luka Doncic replacing Embiid. Finally, Wemby came in tied for third place for most versatile player in the NBA with 10% of the vote and received a vote for best power forward. Rookie Stephon Castle also received some attention, including coming in third with 13% of the vote to win Rookie of the Year behind Reed Sheppard and Zach Edey. (To show how unpredictable this draft is, top overall pick Zaccharie Risacher received zero votes in what has to be an extremely rare occurrence, and it’s interesting that Edey came in second despite being the 7th overall pick, which was still higher than most mock drafts had him going. It just goes to show that role may play as a big of a role as anything — no pun intended — in this seasons’ ROY race, and Edey is expect to start at center for what should be a playoff-bound Memphis team if Ja Morant stays healthy and keeps his head on straight.) Castle also came in second behind Sheppard with 17% of the vote for who will be the best player from his class in five years. That’s some high praise for the quiet rookie who is coming in behind possibly the most hyped rookie of all time in Wemby, and it goes to show that the GM’s foresee a bright future for these two, which is reflected in them coming in fourth for most promising young core behind the Thunder, Magic and Rockets. The final Spurs player to receive multiple votes is newest acquisition and respected veteran Chris Paul, who came in sixth for most underrated offseason acquisition, first for player who will make the best head coach someday (with another new Spur, Harrison Barnes, also receiving a vote), tied for fourth for best leader, and tied for third for best basketball IQ — all features that the young Spurs could truly use this season and why he was signed in the first place. Finally, unsurprisingly, the Gregg Popovich continues to be viewed as one of the best coaches in the game, coming in third for best manager/motivator of people, and as a whole, the Spurs came in a distance second with 17% of the vote for the team that will be most improved this season. (In a way, you could say the won since the runaway winner was the Grizzlies, but in reality that would just a result of getting Morant back, not he result of any offseason moves that will put them in a place they haven’t already been with their current core.) There are plenty more questions that didn’t include any Spurs, so be sure to go check out the entire thing if you want to get a feel for the league through the lens of the NBA’s top executives. The Spurs will be back in preseason action tomorrow against the Orlando Magic, and hopefully will get to see Wemby and Paul together for the first time!